Flying in the soup

I wanted to fly today, but when I woke up in the morning the forecast didn't look good:

FM1800 14015KT 2SM TSRA BR BKN007 OVC030CB
FM2100 14011KT 1 1/2SM -TSRA BR OVC005CB
FM0000 12009KT 2SM -TSRA BR OVC004CB

Tangling with thunderstorms is not a good idea in any sort of aircraft. However, after the flying club board meeting which brought me to the airport anyway, I looked at the weather again. The thunderstorms had completely missed, but there were some great instrument conditions remaining:

KMSN 021953Z 13012KT 1 1/2SM -DZ BR OVC006 07/06 A2968 RMK AO2 RAE29DZB29 SLP055 P0000 T00670056
(Translated: 1.5 mile visibility, light drizzle, mist, 600 foot overcast, temp 7C (6.7), dewpoint 6C (5.6), barometric pressure 29.68, rain ended 29 past the hour, drizzle began 29 past the hour)

Low visibility, low overcast, and surface temperatures well above freezing. I checked for pilot reports, and found no pireps for ice below 12,000 feet. The weather briefing confirmed that there would be no danger of icing or thunderstorms, so I filed a flight plan to a nearby intersection and back into Madison. La Crosse was the only nearby alternate that was both legal and feasible, with ceilings up at 1500 feet.

I quickly briefed my instructor and headed for the south ramp to preflight. When I went out onto the ramp, I noticed that the water tower to the west that's about 3 miles away was completely obscured, and the control tower, 1 mile away, was just a silhouette in the mist. The wooded hill on the north end of the field was similarly faint.

After preflight, I looked around again, and noticed that conditions had deteriorated noticeably. The control tower was just a very faint outline. There was a noticeable silence around the airport - Nobody else had come in while I was preflighting.

KMSN 022153Z 12006KT 1SM -DZ BR OVC004 07/07 A2961 RMK AO2 SLP030 P0000 T00720067

We jumped in and fired up. The ATIS (weather and airport information recording) was now listing a 400-foot overcast and 1 mile visibility. After checking the VOR's and setting up the radios, I called for my clearance, and then taxied to runway 21.

On takeoff, I was just looking down to confirm that the airspeed indicator was alive when Joe said "Instrument takeoff." I stayed on the gauges, probably a good idea as the horizon, what there was of it, would be pretty much invisible just after rotation. It was actually easier to transition during the roll than it usually is in the air.

The airplane swam through the murk. Trusty gauges inside, nothing visible outside except for the plane itself and the dull gray goo surrounding us. As we climbed, the gray got brighter and brighter as we approached the top of the clouds, but we never broke out of them.

We elected to fly the ILS 18 approach first because it has the lowest minimums. With the deteriorating conditions, it would be best to start diverting to our alternate as soon as possible if the weather was too low to come back into Madison.

I'll spare you the vectors and skip ahead to the fun part. We're cleared for the approach and handed off to Tower. Tower clears us to land and reports "RVR greater than 6,000 feet." (RVR=Runway Visual Range, basically visibility only more accurate.) The ILS 18 approach requires an RVR of 2400 or more and a ceiling of 200 feet.

I intercepted the glideslope and began to descend. Decision height for this approach is 1060 feet MSL (mean sea level), or 200 feet AGL (above ground level). I watched the altimeter tick down as the grayness outside got darker. Still no sight of anything else. At 1560 I began my callouts. "Five hundred feet to descend." Nothing visible out the front except the cowling. "Four hundred." Still nothing. "Three hundred." Nothing. Are we going to make it in? "Two hundred." About 5 seconds later, I saw a row of strobe lights piercing the gray. "Approach lights in sight." The remainder of the approach lights appeared, appearing to float in the sea of gray. "One hundred." The runway threshold lights appeared, and about the first 2/3 of the runway side lights. "Runway environment in sight."

I floated quite a ways down the runway because I was still at approach speed until I was very close to the runway. I landed and taxied back and copied another clearance down from tower. And once again, off we go into the wild gray yonder, vectored around to the ILS 21 approach this time.

The radio, very quiet up until now, squawked. "Madison information Quebec now current, winds one one zero at eight, visibility three quarters."

KMSN 022221Z 11008KT 3/4SM -DZ BR OVC004 07/07 A2959 RMK AO2 TWR VIS 1 P0001

The ILS 21 has the highest minimums of the three ILS approaches at MSN at 1137 MSL, partially due to the fact that the approach end of 21 is at the highest elevation on the field and the first half of the runway goes downhill.

Again, I intercepted the final approach course and then the glideslope and followed them on down. "Five hundred... Four hundred... Three hundred... Two hundred..." Nothing but gray outside. "One hundred." Are we gonna make it? About 40 feet above DH, the approach lights began to shine through the murk ahead, and the closest parts of the airport slowly, magically appeared out of nowhere right in front of the airplane. Sweet.

I pulled power earlier this time so I wouldn't float, and touched down on the runway. It was still difficult to see much except the runway and the grass immediately off to the side. The control tower was basically invisible, so we reported that we were down and were given clearance to taxi to the ramp.

These conditions were the lowest I've ever flown in, and while it was nice to have an instructor aboard, I really didn't need him. I think it's about time I get this rating!

"Instrument flying is an unnatural act, probably punishable by God." --Gordon Baxter, pilot